Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to talk about the success of Taylor Made sire Not This Time and his Travers-winning son Epicenter. He also gives a preview of Taylor Made's consignment at the Keeneland September Sale.

Leading consignor Taylor Made Sales has announced a partnership with the Montreal-based fintech company Dello to offer cryptocurrency payments to its customers. "Taylor Made has clients from all over the world," said Taylor Made CEO Mark Taylor. "We want to make things as easy as possible for them. Accepting crypto makes good business sense." Dello enables sellers to accept cryptocurrency without ever having to convert it or handle it directly, according to a press release from Taylor Made. Since the crypto payments are settled in local currency, the seller doesn't...

He always says that had he been born in Detroit, he would have gone into the automobile trade. In other words, whatever kind of horseman he might allow us to credit him, first and foremost he came into the world a businessman. Now that Duncan Taylor is stepping down from the helm of one of its most remarkable family concerns, then, the Bluegrass can count itself fortunate that fate instead applied his flair to a more literal type of horsepower. True, the old school can't have been enamored by his...

Steve Castagnola, who was a Taylor Made team member between 1997-2009, has rejoined Taylor Made as Sales Recruiter. Castagnola's main focus will be the development of relationships and the recruitment of new business, while assisting in both the public and private sales divisions of Taylor Made. "I came to Taylor Made in January 1997 as an intern, and over my 12 years, worked with Ben Taylor in helping manage the early books of Unbridled's Song and our then fledgling stallion operation before becoming the Director of Client Development," Castagnola said....

The seasonal foliage was about the only thing falling at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which concluded a wildly successful run in Lexington Friday afternoon. Over the course of 10 days of trade, sales officials reported gross receipts of $203,585,500 for 2470 horses sold, good for an average of $82,423. Further demonstrating the strength of middle market, the median price of $37,000 established a new November record, eclipsing the previous mark of $35,000 set on five previous occasions, but most recently in 2014. The buyback rate closed at a...

LEXINGTON, KY--The Keeneland September Yearling Sale starts its 11-day run Monday with the first of two Book 1 sessions, beginning at 1 p.m. The five-book catalogue offers a total of 4,032 yearlings by a variety of stallions, such as Triple Crown heroes American Pharoah and Justify; the red-hot Into Mischief; perennial leading sire Tapit; stalwarts like Medaglia d'Oro, War Front and Candy Ride (Arg); and top freshman sire Gun Runner. "I think when you get this volume of horses and there are a lot of really nice horses, there is...

The last time the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale was held, Curlin recorded a memorable trifecta with the auction's top three seven-figure yearlings. Leading the way was the $1.5-million co-topper First Captain, who was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' and captured  the GIII Dwyer S. The Hill 'n' Dale stallion will be represented by five yearlings when bidding returns to the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion in upstate New York next week. "Curlin is truly a Classic sire," said Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency, which will consign two fillies...

Tim Hamlin, owner and operator of Wynnstay Farm, is high on the filly by first-crop yearling sire Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro-Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy) his consignment will be presenting at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale. "One word to describe her is athletic," he said of the youngster that will sell as Hip 94 on July 13. "She's a later filly out of a mare called Wall of Worry (The Cliff's Edge). She's been athletic from the day she was born. She does everything we want her to do and...

The new lineup of officers and board members of the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association (CBA) were unveiled at the latest meeting, the organization announced on Tuesday. Lane's End Farm's Allaire Ryan is the new President, replacing outgoing President Gray Lyster, who will continue to serve the CBA as a Past President. Claiborne Farm's Walker Hancock is the new Vice President, while Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Farm is the Treasurer. "The CBA owes a debt of gratitude to outgoing President Gray Lyster for the time and service he dedicated...

The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale continued into its Book 2 section with a measured session of bidding Wednesday. Five broodmares brought six figures during the session, with the 6-year-old From the Hood (Street Sense), a half-sister to champion Folklore (Tiznow), bringing the day's top price of $375,000. The mare was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency and Chris Baccari made the winning bid. A colt by Laoban (hip 1053) was the session's top-priced short yearling when selling to Rascal Bloodstock for $70,000. Bred in Ohio by Mark...

Felicita (More Than Ready), an unraced 4-year-old half-sister to Grade I-winning juvenile and Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief), topped Tuesday's Keeneland December Digital Sale when hammering for $250,000 to Jon Clay's Alpha Delta Stables. The auction, Keeneland's third foray into the nascent online sale marketplace after its June Online Select Horses of Racing Age Sale and October Digital Sale, was seen by leading consignors as a clear improvement while still having kinks that need ironing out as the sector evolves. The one-day sale grossed $508,000 for 15 lots, for an average of...

by Brian DiDonato, Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--OXO Equine's Larry Best took home the top two lots Monday during the lone Book 1 session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Early in the day he went to $1.9 million for Indian Miss (Indian Charlie) (hip 32), the dam of champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya) and last Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), in foal to Into Mischief and from the Hill 'n' Dale consignment; and towards the end of the session he paid $1.95...